as a thread drawing out a continuous and extended context, if anyone keeps it fit for the transition of accurate thought, they will by no means fall short of what is proper; and indeed, the understanding of words is to be estimated as the order of a body, while meditation is as the order of the figures that are about the body; of which the former must be shown briefly from afar, while the latter must be examined more accurately and closely through limbs and compositions, pondering nothing beyond the body. A Furthermore, let this also be known to those accustomed to such things: how the words of prophecy are, on the one hand, uttered in choice prose, as are the writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and whoever else lived according to them; but others are with modulation in song, as the words of the Psalms of the blessed David, and those found in Moses in Exodus and Deuteronomy. B Yet whatever is metrical, but not uttered and transmitted from above with song, would never be prophecy; just as it happens that the remainder of the verse books, such as those of Job and Solomon, are. End with God.
ANNO DOMINI DCCLXXXVII.
EPIPHANIUS CATANENSIS DIACONUS
NOTITIA
(Cave, *Script. ecclesiast. Historia litteraria*, p. 422.)
Epiphanius, a deacon of Catania in Sicily, flourished in the year 787, in which he took part in the Nicene Synod XI, acting as the vicar of Thomas, Archbishop of the Sardians. A sufficiently long laudatory sermon delivered in the same synod is extant.
LAUDATORY SERMON DELIVERED TO THE HOLY SYNOD BY EPIPHANIUS, DEACON OF CATANIA IN THE PROVINCE OF SICILY, AND REPRESENTATIVE OF THOMAS, ARCHBISHOP OF THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA.
A The blessed prophet Isaiah, illuminated by the divine Spirit, having foreseen most clearly the redemption of the Gentiles accomplished through Christ, and not being ignorant of the multitude of those who were to be saved through Him, has spoken somewhere as though from the person of God to those who are allotted the oversight of the sacred flocks at various times, saying: "Go through my gates, and make a way for my people; and cast the stones out of the way." What might the gates be understood to be, if not the utterances of the divinely inspired Scripture and of the holy prophets? These, the pastors of the rational sheep, by interpreting them, open as if they were certain intellectual gates, and thus they bring them to the broad and true gate, namely our Lord Jesus Christ, who has truly become for us the gate to the Father; just as He Himself says, "I am the gate." B And again, the stones that are cast onto the way might be the stumbling blocks of a heretical faction, which, like certain stones placed upon the path of our faith, strive impiously to trip up those who desire to go to the One who is truly the Way, being eager to close the path of salvation to them as much as lies within their power. And again, this way is understood to be our Lord Jesus Christ, just as He Himself says: "I am the life, and the way." These heretical stones, therefore, those who are skilled among the priests, fittingly and very artfully, with the guidance of the Spirit, clearing them from our way—that is, from the doctrine of the faith—not only send them back upon the heads of those who cast them, but in this way, they also render the path that leads to the way C easy and trodden for the subjects of their care; so that they are able to understand and to say: "Our soul has been snatched like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters; the snare has been broken, and we have been delivered. Our help is in the name of the Lord." Lo, therefore, the divine assembly of the priests, following the divine commandments, has gathered here to set forth the venerable D mystery of the economy of Christ with the teachings of the fathers; not as—
though they were preaching this itself to the people for the first time—since it has been preached nearly everywhere in the inhabited world for eight hundred years—but because they have unfolded for the people, most luminously through the interpretations of divine Scripture, the sole saving purpose accomplished through Him, and have treated the heretics who were cast against Him as filth—and very fittingly so. For they know the prophetic voice crying out to them as if from the person of God: “Hear, O priests, and testify to the house of Israel,” B clearly meaning the spiritual [house]. To them we also, having hastened to join them—inasmuch as we share the same mind as they—offer our congratulations to this splendid choir; and, setting our quill in motion by the desire of our mind, we strive to contribute what is possible to it, and to celebrate the present occasion with words befitting the time, and to crown this spectacle with the flowers of our praises. For nothing prevents this; even if we perhaps cannot, due to poverty and the weakness of our mind, reach the goal perfectly, we hasten to contribute what we can. For often a small pebble, when placed against great stones, has simulated that it has contributed its share to their immobility.
What then is our discourse to be, brought forth into the midst, to be discussed with much benevolence by you, the divine money-changers, and to be C tested by inspired Scripture? It is the aim of the God-inspired Scripture, that most holy system, to restore man, who was made according to the image of God, to rectitude—both above and below. And it works to secure again the return to the original beauty, which had been removed through negligence, henceforth through care. For this reason, the observances of the legal commandments, and the accounts of men who, in the manner of history, have lived their lives well or otherwise, and the sacred utterances of the psalms, and the proverbial teachings that explain to us moral philosophy, have been set down with much care. But it was not possible for our nature, which had fallen easily and had been brought under sin, to recover the ancient dignity in itself from which it fell in Adam. Rather, it stood in need of some other robust and inexpugnable, better power, which might heal it from the infirmity of the ulcers swelling upon it D by a deliberate act, and might restore it to a more robust state of health with a certain generous increase. Knowing this, therefore, the divine and Spirit-moved choir of the prophets, bearing the announcements of such goods to it, elsewhere and in another way, each in their own times proclaimed the Son and Word of God the Father, coeternal and consubstantial, having arrived at our own extremity by the riches of His goodness, to have perfectly put on our nature, and to have restored it to its ancient state by the invisible and immaterial fire of His divinity. One man, indeed, proclaiming the unmarred conception and the immaculate and virginal birth; another, the victory gained from the transgression in Adam,
A and the total destruction and diminution of the prevarication which obtained from Adam, and was enacted in Adam down to the Law, and of the diabolical sin along with it. Another, the ruinous fall of the same Satan and of the demons who apostatized with him from the face of the God who was to appear, and the incomparable thanksgiving to be offered by us who have been redeemed to the Redeemer, for the most abundant good things which have been wrought in us. Yet another, the voluntary passion of the incarnate God, and the descent into Hades, and again, the powerful return from Hades with the souls that were held in those inescapable bonds. Another, the glorious return from us to the Father who is in heaven, and the sitting at the right hand of the Father. Yet another, the abundant advent of the Spirit, bestowed upon us who believe in Him, descending from heaven; and the very swift circuit of the evangelical preaching among all nations; and the total destruction of the idols throughout the inhabited world that ensued therefrom, through the first, pure renewal toward one and only true God of ours, and the unceasing and continuous worship, raised up to Him by all throughout the whole earth, intellectually and spiritually—all of which were fulfilled according to the truth in their own times, and received a most glorious end. Listen, therefore, to Paul B crying out with a great voice, and confirming the truth in these matters: "God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory." O the magnificence of the teacher! God, says he, was manifested in the flesh, the cause of all good things, the never-failing gift, the most radiant wealth, the perennial fountain of unremovable charisms, the insatiable food of those who hunger, the life-giving bread from heaven, the perennial stream of those who thirst, from which he who drinks shall never thirst for ever. This One was manifested in the flesh; but also, he says, He was believed on in the world. How was He believed on in the world? Tell us, O most blessed Paul; initiate us also into those ineffable words C in which you were initiated in the secret places of paradise; initiate us even now with the preaching, of which you were entrusted to become a herald and apostle to all nations. Pour into the present Church the word of truth, and extinguish the spiritual sight of the heretics, as once you did that of Elymas the sorcerer. Set forth with boldness the mystery of the dispensation. For you speak even after death, more excellently than with a voice, and you work in the Spirit whatever you wish. And, the teacher says, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all, [to know] what is the dispensation of the mystery which has been hidden from the ages in God, who created all things." Therefore, listen: "He was believed on," he said, "in the world," reconciling all things in Himself, and making peace through
A the blood of His cross, whether things on earth or things in heaven. O that sublime preaching! O that ineffable mercy! The only-begotten Son of God, having reconciled all things to Himself, made peace through the blood of His cross. And how can some, after such an ineffable reconciliation, assert that we have become the enemies of the former rebels? How, after the recognition of the one and only true God, have they dared to say that Christians worship idols? Especially when the prophet proclaims the total destruction of these deities, as it were crying out and saying: "In that day the Lord will appear, and He will destroy the gods of the nations of the earth; and each one from his place shall worship Him, even all the islands of the nations." Behold, we have heard of the subversion of idols, and the worship to be celebrated to God by everyone from his own place. How, then, are we who do this accused of practicing idolatry? And who could possibly renew on earth the ancient error of idols? For if the most wicked demons, who are appeased by these things, can do this, how would the whole mystery of the dispensation not be overturned, when the holy Scripture plainly cries out: "Because He struck His enemies from behind"? It is clear that Christ also gave them eternal reproach. For he who can effect something is undoubtedly established not among the dead, but among the living. But how, too, when He encourages His B own disciples and exhorting them to manfully undergo all kinds of difficulties, will He speak the truth, when He asserts: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"? For if what He promises to have overcome, they were able to take away again through rebellion, such a thing would certainly not be called a victory, nor would it be counted among brave deeds. For how will it be a victory if the liberator does not bring the redeemed to the end, but is reduced by the same struggles by those who had previously been overcome? Indeed, and not by the same, but by stronger ones? For to possess something and lose it will be reckoned more a matter of weakness to me than not to possess what was not acquired. Furthermore, where do you think is the status of the idols? Those who say this, you claim, have seen them. If indeed they are in the ancient sites of demonic temples, this will not yet be imputed to Christians as a cause of accusation. We see, indeed, C remains in some places of the ancient demonic temples left behind by the ancients, for the display, I think, of those who sacrificed in them; or even for a memorial, which leads us who have been redeemed to thanksgiving through visible and weak forms: from which the abominable rites of the Christians have been made, from which we have been rescued through Christ, unless they say these are found in our most Christian churches.
A O the absurdity that arises from this! O the most evil blasphemy! For how, where Christ is the head and foundation, according to the most wise Paul, could this ever have happened? We Christians have truly been defrauded of our hope; we have been deceived by the voices of the preachers who proclaimed that God had come into the world to liberate us from the greed of the demons. And how were they even able to say this? For—let us ask those who think this way—did this happen with our Head permitting it, or perhaps because He wished it not to happen but was unable to assist? And how is this not beyond all blasphemy? For if the most holy Paul is truthful in calling Christ, the Son of God, the power of God and the wisdom of God, how, I ask, could any of those things that exist have been able to overcome the unassailable power and wisdom of the Father, which gives being to all things? For it is clear that if this has happened to Her, they will not be able to push aside such accusations from Him whose attributes these are. For how could the Father still be called God Almighty, powerful and strong, if He has been, as it were, stripped of His own power and made subject to the hand of His own enemies? And how at all has He permitted the Church, which was joined to Him by His own blood, to be enslaved as it is to such savage and merciless spirits? And this, even though the Hymnographer says: “For according to the height of heaven from the earth, the Lord has strengthened His mercy upon those who fear Him.” B If He was incarnate for this purpose, so as to deliver us from their hand, in accordance with the prophetic foretellings, yet we have been liberated, as they say, for only a little while—was it no liberation at all, but only a pretense? For it has not been a cause of joy, but of a greater and more difficult slavery for us, having made those who are our enemies even more savage, to the extent that we, thinking ourselves liberated, have been mocked by them. Where, then, would His continuous mercy still be preserved, which He promised to strengthen over us according to the diameter from the earth to the height of heaven, which signifies that which is unlimited? And how is it said that He has removed our iniquities from us according to the distance from the rising to the setting of the sun—which signifies complete redemption—if we are still entangled in the same errors? And certainly we see the most skilled of physicians, when they have assisted one lying in an infirm state of body with the diligence of their craft and have brought him back to health, not withdrawing the experience of their craft as soon as they have delivered him from his present suffering, but rather providing a more cautious regimen of life for him through certain prophylactic aids, C so that he might not, by chance, through inexperience, fall into the same troubles again. If, then, it is true, as has been proven, that the only-begotten Son of God and the Father has put on our nature, it is clear that He has enriched it with His own blessings and has filled it with the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, D so that it might no longer, for the future, stand in need of any second help, once by that strength which assumed [this nature]
For this, I think, and the blessed Evangelist hints when he says that at the time of the baptism of Christ, the Savior of us all, he saw the Holy Spirit descending from heaven and remaining upon Him; which suggests that his nature was enriched in such a way as to be henceforth unlosable.
For He who is in all things coequal to the Father had no need of the coming of the Spirit from heaven, in so far as concerns the reason of His own nature. For what addition of holiness could be made to Him who bears in Himself the Father’s characteristics and in no way varies from the consubstantiality of the Spirit? But He was prefiguring our grace within Himself: for we were enriched again through Him and in Him with that which we had been deprived of in Adam, and the ancient dignity returned to our nature. If, therefore, it is read that the grace of the Spirit descended and remained upon Him; and this is not to be rejected—that is to say, that the Word henceforth preserved [this] nature; it is manifest that such grace truly passed to the whole race. How then do they say that we have sinned through ignorance of the truth, and under the pretext, forsooth, of the honor to be rendered to God, have worshiped idols again? For by Christ we have been enriched with such grace as this. B This must be said to those who presume everything. But if they shall confess that we have merited these goods, which are beyond words, through Christ, but that after this we have been submitted again to our former errors, then, according to them, the grace which was given through the Spirit has been weakened, in that it did not suffice to remain until the end with those who had once obtained it. And what could be more impious or more wretched than to think so? For how could the Spirit of the Father, who passes through all things and provides life-giving power to all, who is the all-seeing and omnipotent, fail in His own nature and succumb to the measures of infirmity? Or how shall the saving voice be acknowledged as true, which says: « I am with you always, even unto the end of the world », if the matter of His promises is not seen to have proceeded to an end through works? C For He gave such a promise to the holy apostles who were then with Him. For how could they have remained in the flesh until the end, who, remaining in life only a little while after His ascension into heaven, fulfilled the common law of nature, leaving life by death? But in truth, such a gift of the Gospels passes to us, who have submitted ourselves to their preaching, and who have Christ, who conversed with them, remaining with us in spirit through our whole life. It is expedient, therefore, to lament in this the error of the heretics, who have thus despised these things, who are rebuked by such manifest dogmas, and who, by impiously detracting from the Catholic Church, make the promises that are so pleasing to God void. D For in no way has she been moved from the faith delivered to her, but has remained as a chaste virgin, as it is written, holding the pledge of her own bridegroom
A, that is, the grace of the Spirit given for herself. On account of this, the divine David, proclaiming long before to many nations the immobility of the faith exhibited by her, asserted: “God is in the midst of her, and she shall not be moved;” and again, “He has established the world which shall not be moved,” B—namely, when it is assailed by the machinations of the devil. For even if some of the ancient or the present-day heretics have wished to shake the solid foundation of the evangelical proclamation that was delivered to her, their intended work has nevertheless recoiled upon themselves.
To her alone, however, has immobility been preserved unto eternity, according to the truthful promise of Him who says: “If a woman forgets her child, or fails to have mercy on the offspring of her womb? But even if a woman should forget these, yet I will not forget you, says the Lord.” B Leaving aside, therefore, the sophistries of their words in these matters, and saying farewell to their long-winded talkativeness, let us betake ourselves to the opinions of the holy Fathers. For all of them have demonstrated that God, having come into the world in human form, has freed us from the multiform error of idols; thus the prophetic pronouncements have heralded it, thus the apostolic grace has made it clear. We have been assured of this doctrine, not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit, as it is written. C For it is not the cleverness of words that has persuaded us that this is so—for that is a characteristic of the Greeks—but the truth of the matters themselves. For where is the ruinous throng of the demons anymore? Where are the empty and abominable rites of the idols? Where are the perilous and soul-destroying divinations of the gods falsely so-called? Where are the revels of Venus, and the orgies of Demeter, and the murders of strangers by Artemis? Where are the frenzied festivals of Dionysus, together with their unlawful effeminacy, and the initiation of the so-called Mithras? Where are the subterranean, the above-ground, and the aerial homicides of the so-called gods who delighted in such things? D Did not everything perish at the advent of the only-begotten Son of God, and receive a most profane end? Have not their temples, which were once beautifully built, now been demolished by imperial command and cast to the ground? Have the memories of them not vanished from the heart of all Christians, and is not that which was prophesied seen fulfilled by the very facts, namely: “The earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covering the sea?” Let us adore, then, the Lord who has appeared and has delivered us from this most savage error. Let us sing a hymn to His infinite philanthropy; let us proclaim on the highest mountain of our Church His terrible and ineffable condescension in the economy of salvation; let us lift up our voices with strength, and let us not spare the magnificence of His incomprehensible majesty, namely
by recounting the A love which He has shown toward us. Let us, together with the prophet, say to Him: "Who is a God like unto You, taking away iniquities, and hiding the sins of the remnant of Your inheritance?" Let us also join the dance in this present sacred assembly, addressing it with a "Hail," as though it were the prize of joy. Hail, therefore, O most holy college of this divine and priestly gathering. Hail, most holy champion of the holy Fathers. Hail, most truthful gathering of God, in the midst of which God walks, as it is written. Hail, council filled with spiritual apparition; he who is enlightened by it shall not strike the spiritual feet of his soul against the stone of heretical false-speaking. Hail, inspector of divine inquiries; he who follows you modestly is delivered from the threatening sword. B Hail, ever-flourishing paradise, in the midst of which the tree of life is planted, watered by the four-fold stream of the Gospels. Hail, golden and fiery pillar, delivering the new Israel of God from the Egyptian hand—that is, from the error of the heretics—by the bright doctrines of your dogmas, and leading them on to the land of promise by the orthodoxy of the Fathers. Act with boldness and confidence in the manifestation of the truth. With unveiled face, preach the glory of the holy and catholic Church. Confirm the fickle minds of some with the doctrines of a steady conversation upon the rock.
And you, especially, O concordant and most holy herald of the holy Fathers, and exarch of our present assembly, who adorn for us a sublime throne through Christ, most diligent mirror of the great and first Shepherd, most clean habitation of the Spirit, most straight scale of orthodox dogmas, rule of a life polished in Christ, most renowned lamp, and most brilliant light of seven-branched candelabra: cause the clarity of most evident words to shine upon us from the invisible candelabrum of your sacred chair. Distribute also to those who hunger the life-giving bread of divine instruction; and feed the people who are in a strange land, rendered wanderers by the heretical exile, C supporting the minds of some who are easily led astray with your teachings. Become for us a new Joseph, a giver of grain, nourishing us with rich and spiritual interpretations, explaining the ambiguities of the scriptural enigmas. Lift up your eyes, and see gathered above you your children who had been scattered by the onset of the wolves; this most holy temple of the divine decree is seen to be entirely full for you. With the frequent leap of your mind, anticipate the onsets of the beasts, and shut them out, forestalling them with your wisdom. Always procure tranquility for your fold. Fortify it, moreover, with frequent and well-sounding prayers sent forth to God, so that it may be increased for you into a multitude, according to the promises which were made to Abraham, becoming like the number of the stars. D Hail also to you, renowned city of the Nicaeans, among the metropolises
the glorious first-fruits of the Bithynian province: you, who were previously sanctified by the footsteps of the holy three hundred and eighteen God-bearing Fathers, and now are surrounded by the same blessings of grace, through their successors who complete the number of three hundred and fifty, and a multitude of reverend monks not to be numbered. For in you, the foundation of the orthodox faith, which was in danger of being shaken by a certain Satanic perversity, received an unshakeable stability. In you, that savage and untamable beast, namely Arius, was captured by that divine choir of Fathers, who spread out the sacred nets of the Scriptures, and struck him down with terrible anathemas; and from thence, all human nature has learned to proclaim the Son of God and the Father as consubstantial with Him who begat Him. B For this reason, the present most sacred assembly of this equal-numbered chorus has decreed that a duality of pious emperors be gathered in you—Irene, a new Helena, with her own son, the new Constantine—whom may the grace of the Spirit, which shone upon the holy Fathers then and now, preserve in you for most abundant times, granting them an imperturbable empire and prostrating the tribes of their enemies before their feet, so that the supply of good things may not fail us.
Rejoice, therefore, O renowned beauty of metropolises, in these things; for in you the first beginning of our good things sprang up, and in you also the end, not as regards worth, but as regards number, which is C the ancient tradition of the most venerable images of our Catholic Church, restored to its own boundaries. Now truly the heaven rejoices, and the clouds drop down justice. Now the middle wall of partition is dissolved, with the union of [this] disagreement granted, and the quaternity of the inhabited earth has been brought together into the harmony of one consensus. Now the many opinions that were pulling in different directions have come together into one; and a harmonious hymn is sent up to God from the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth. Rejoice, therefore, and exult in these things you also, O Catholic Church, spread throughout the whole world. Lead the choirs, exulting over the gathering of your sons; put off the rags of division, and put on the whole garment of orthodox unity. No longer will you be an D object of reproach to your neighbors, a mocking and derision to the peoples who are round about you. You will no longer fear the contempt of men, I mean of the Hebrews and the Hagarenes, who exist without God and sacred initiation, as if the perfection of the faith taught by the apostolic doctrines had not been given to you. You will no longer be accused by the mouths of heretics, as if you had turned away from the one God because of the most fitting honor shown toward His friends. You will no longer be counted as similar to the temples of idols, because of the erection of the most sacred and venerable holy images within you.
For it befits you, as one wedded to the King of the ages, the Son and Word of God, to possess the human-formed image of His incarnate dispensation by means of writing
A in image, so that it may be known that you are a royal bride. For it befits you to bear the image of the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mother of Christ, who betrothed you to Himself, rendered in mosaic work upon your most holy walls, so that the grace which has shone forth upon you through her may be proclaimed to the peoples in a silent preaching. For if He had not been incarnate from her, how could you have been united in spiritual wedlock to such a fair Bridegroom? It befits you also to possess within, fashioned in the composition of paintings, the images of all the holy apostles and prophets, patriarchs and venerable Fathers, ascetics and martyrs, and of every pious assembly, so that you may show forth to every vision the perfection of the East that shone upon you from on high, and that it may remain in all your divine establishment. Some provide your holy calling, as it were, in advance, and betroth you beforehand to the Bridegroom with their prophecies as with dowries; others serve you with the evangelical word and gather for you the rational flocks dispersed throughout the whole earth; others, by their own struggles, as it were, purchase for your flocks incorruptibility through the concord of the same confession of dogmas; and others preserve their sincere affection towards you even unto death by their own blood, and in this way demonstrate the certainty of the truth within you. B With these, and with ten thousand times ten thousand of the heavenly angels, bearing a crown and preaching most fully, proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of the darkness of idolatrous error into His own marvelous light—I mean, into Him, and His Father who is without beginning, and His co-eternal and consubstantial Spirit: the one super-essential nature, faith, and confession; to whom be glory and dominion now and unto all ages of ages. Amen. C
PACHOMIUS THE MONK ON THE UTILITY OF THE DIVINE SCRIPTURES THAT THEIR OBSCURITY IS NOT TO BE ATTRIBUTED TO THOSE WHO WROTE THEM, BUT TO OUR OWN IGNORANCE AND NEGLIGENCE. ALSO CONCERNING TEACHERS.
(Cod. Nan. p. 261.) A Just as surgeons, when they are about to operate on someone suffering from a grave ailment, do not immediately apply the scalpel, cautery, or plasters unless they have first considered the origin of the malady; but once this is known, they use remedies—potions, bloodletting, baths, and diet. And once in this way the excess of noxious humors has been suppressed, they finally apply medicines that induce a scar, so that health may return. So I, seeing that we ourselves have fallen into various irregularities—namely, living without piety, without law, without justice, without rule, and other conditions of this nature—did not wish to heap blame upon you for every single error from the start, lest perhaps I pour out words in vain, since the primary sin, like the hydra in the fables, always brings forth new heads. But I wished to declare from where the swarm of these evils has erupted. And with this demonstrated, I trust that I shall be speaking to listening ears.
B But what was the cause of our turning away from that which is honorable? They are indeed many and various. But there is one mother of the rest: ignorance. For when the mind has been first occupied by it, it will conceive of nothing good. For ignorance is an intellectual night, whereas knowledge is light—a divine gift to the wise. And by knowledge I mean the true, not the worldly. For the latter is something that, when it errs in many things, might be called by one an image of the true and unfailing knowledge, and as it were, a handmaid. But true knowledge is that which is granted through the divine and holy Scriptures to those who search them with their whole soul, with divine fear, in a sincere mind, and not in a spirit of contention, nor passionately, nor maliciously. For they [Scriptures] were given...